dont/de laquelle

Peter L.C1Kwiziq community member

dont/de laquelle

I used “de laquelle” in the last sentence instead of “dont”.  Is this unacceptable?

Asked 4 years ago
Chris W.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor Correct answer

No, in this case you need to use dont. To understand better when to use which, you need to distinguish two cases:

1) Prepositional phrase.
This is a phrase which acts as a preposition, such as: auprès de, au mileu de, à cause de, etc.

2) Verbal phrase.
This is a verb demanding the use of de, such as tomber amoureux de, parler de, se servir de, etc.

Now it's easy. In the first case you use duquel in all its mutations and in the second case you use dont. Apart from this, dont is also some other uses (such as denoting subset of a larger collection or a relative pronoun). A full explanation with exercises can be found here: https://www.francaisfacile.com/exercices/exercice-francais-2/exercice-francais-105504.php

In the case in question you have the verbal phrase tomber amoureux de. Hence you need dont.

Peter L. asked:

dont/de laquelle

I used “de laquelle” in the last sentence instead of “dont”.  Is this unacceptable?

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